Ed Markey: “President Roosevelt once said, ``The test of our progress as a society is not whether we do more for those who already…”

“President Roosevelt once said, ``The test of our progress as a society is not whether we do more for those who already have enough but whether we do enough for those who have too little.'' President Kennedy said, ``Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you can do for your country.'' The Republicans here today have issued a different kind of a challenge: ``Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what can be done for your country club pals. Ask not what is in this titanic tax cut for ordinary families, ask what is in it for the wealthiest 1 percent,'' with an average income of $1.1 million a year. Forty-five percent of the benefit goes to the upper 1 percentile. And, finally, ``Ask not who pays now but who will pay 10 and 15 years from now,'' because this tax cut becomes so massive when the baby boomers retire, when the number of Alzheimer's patients will increase from 4 million to 14 million; Parkinson's disease down the line, long-term care, Social Security, and Medicare. That is when the tax cut begins to balloon, just as the greatest needs do for those seniors who built our country. It is immoral, Mr. Speaker, to pass a bill which calls for sacrifice from those who will need much a decade from now.”